The Austin-Healey Sprite was conceived during the early months of 1956 at a meeting between Austin's Leonard Lord and Donald Healey, to fill a gap in the market left by the demise of the MG TD and TF Midgets, which had been replaced by the larger MG A.

The go-ahead was given for Donald Healey to design a small, inexpensive and fun sports car capable of filling the gap in the existing market.

The target was to produce a sports car for the price of a Morris Minor - around £600 at the time.

Primary responsibility for the project lay with Geoffrey Healey, son of Donald, with the chassis designed by Barry Bilbie and the body styled by Gerry Coker, the designer of the Austin Healey 100.

The design had to be simple and inexpensive to produce - and this was certainly achieved with the new Sprite which with its cheeky looks and smiley face rapidly became known as the 'Frogeye'.

This beautifully restored example was purchased new by Miss Elizabeth Anne Thompson on 7th July 1960 from Charle...